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Success mantras for new-age CMO

The Future of marketing with respect to digitization and the complexity of analytics that are required to make sense of the data are already dominating our lives. A number of examples come to mind when I think of how the art of classic marketing is changing with time and transforming itself to leverage technologies and drive a clear business benefit as well as customer engagement.

My Favorite example is one of the early engagements that Starbucks launched online called “My Starbucks Idea”. It was a continuous engagement for co creation where customers and prospects propose ideas for new products, packaging, marketing etc. These are rated by others and best ones are awarded as well as the company uses them to transform business.

Changing customer behavior has made CMO’s role much more diverse. Marketing, in its new avatar, focuses on developing customer relationships and encouraging inter-personal or reference based promotion. Hence, customer information management, segmentation, digital and analytics have emerged as the key focus areas for marketers. Technology helps them identify prospective customers and build relationships with them. At another level, technology is increasingly creating the fear of being left behind in the marketers’ mind.

Nasscom defined six successful mantras for new age CMO

1. Develop a technology mindset – Don’t get sucked into the technology- vs-creativity vortex. It’s now technology + creativity. Technology is a powerful enabler of larger business benefits. A new-age marketer is tech-friendly.

2. Leverage your own CIO - Marketers today have a deep understanding of technology’s role in marketing, but lack the skills to access it. Engage in healthy and regular interactions with your CIO and his technology network with an open, positive mindset.

4. Take baby steps before the sprint- Invest in technology by all means, but with a bit of caution. Start with small, yet focused initiatives before investing in larger marketing systems.

5. Can they walk the talk? Most agencies have a tendency to promise and project much more than what they can actually deliver. Take these claims with a pinch of salt and keep an eye out for the new breed of agencies that have a deep understanding of how technology & creativity merge.

6. Be a keen observer of the technology landscape- Innovative technologies like mobile, analytics and personalization are fuelling the development of new-age applications and devices. Identify industry-specific frameworks and applications that can be calibrated to enable easy and efficient deployment.